


It Is Enough

by nadagio



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Langst, Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-10-23 12:52:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10719705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nadagio/pseuds/nadagio
Summary: Nowhere near close to finding Shiro and uncertain what he should do now, Lance spends some quiet time with the Blue Lion.





	It Is Enough

“I don’t know what to do, Blue,” he whispers, holding tight to the lion’s controls. “I don’t know what I _can_ do.”

Everything around him – Blue included – is quiet. There are no enemies firing on him or teammates yelling in his ears. This isn’t a mission. Blue sits in the hangar of the castle with Lance in the cockpit and outwardly everything is calm.

But things are not okay. Shiro is missing and they’re no closer to finding him (or even figuring out what happened to him) than they were the moment they looked inside Black and found the paladin gone after their fight with Zarkon.

And maybe there are more important things in the universe than the life of one man – after all, that’s why he’s willing to risk his life fighting in this war. Maybe someone else can pilot the Black Lion and they can still form Voltron to help save the universe from the Galra Empire. Maybe they can keep fighting (keep living) even without Shiro.

But they shouldn’t have to. It isn’t _fair_. Shiro is their leader. Shiro is their friend. Shiro is their _family_. They shouldn’t have to continue on without him. They shouldn’t have to grieve for a man who suffered so much so young. It isn’t _fair_ and no one is taking it well. There’s no possible way anyone could take it well because _it isn’t fair why did he have to leave us_ _what do I do now that he’s gone_?

“Please,” Lance whispers, closing his eyes as they threaten to tear up. “Tell me what to do.”

No one answers. But when he opens his eyes his mother stands in front of him and Lance gasps, tears falling fast.

“ _Mami_?” he whispers. “ _¿eres tú?_ ”

She smiles softly, eyes wrinkling at the corners, and kneels in front of him. Reaches for him. Lance launches forward into her arms, burying his face in her neck to sob wetly against her skin.

“ _Mami!_ ”

And Lance knows it isn’t really her. He knows his mother is back on Earth thousands or even millions of light years away. But in this moment he doesn’t care because she holds him in his arms like his mother would, she rubs his back and pets his hair to comfort him as his mother would.

It isn’t until some time later when he’s cried as much as he possibly can right now and his face is a mess and his throat is sore from sobbing that he notices she doesn’t _speak_ like his mother would. She is silent. She says nothing.

Almost afraid to question it (to try and understand what’s happening) Lance pulls back to look at his mother’s face. She’s still smiling. But there’s something in her eyes, something in how this feels familiar in a way that doesn’t remind him of his mother.

“Blue?” he rasps. And his mother – no, the image of his mother with the spirit of the Blue Lion – nods.

It hurts. Even though he knows it’s impossible it was nice to have the fantasy. It’s still nice. To have this, to have the feeling and image of his mother’s arms wrapped around him.

“Thanks, Blue,” he says.

But now he feels self-conscious in a way he didn’t when he could still pretend that it’s his mother who holds him. Lance tries to pull away but her arms hold him tighter.

 _Wait_.

It’s an idea more than it’s a word. Blue doesn’t communicate in speech like a person does, instead sending information directly to his brain in a way that’s alien but somehow comprehensible. Lance stops moving and waits. He trusts Blue.

His mother’s hand lifts to touch his face, fingertips directing Lance to close his eyes and so he does.

 _Watch_.

His eyes are still closed but suddenly he sees. Not his mother’s face or an empty cockpit, but a dark cavern illuminated by the glow of a particle barrier. When Lance spots the five small figures standing on the ground in front of him, he understands that he’s looking through the Blue Lion’s eyes. This is Blue’s memory of the first time they met.

Lance watches past-Lance approach in a zig-zag path and knock on the barrier with a thoughtful pout, watches his own awe and the excited way he runs up the ramp. Then the image is gone and another takes its place. And then another. And more. Lance shooting at Galra, Lance giving Hunk a hug, Lance flirting with an alien, Lance slipping into an enemy ship, Lance high-fiving Pidge, Lance bickering with Keith. And so on and so forth. They go on and on. So many memories, and the only thing that seems to tie them all together is Lance.

“I don’t understand,” he says. “What are you trying to say?”

The last memory is auditory and not visual: it’s of just minutes ago when Lance begged out loud, “Tell me what to do.” And then all Lance sees is a still image of himself, standing in his paladin armor with a cocky grin on his face.

This is Blue’s answer. Not to do anything he hasn’t already done or to be anyone he isn’t. But to be himself. The most basic advice anyone can ever give.

 _It is enough_.

Lance laughs so that he doesn’t cry. He opens his eyes to find himself still seated in the pilot’s seat, hands on the controls and face wet with drying tears.

“I know I’m pretty awesome,” Lance says, mostly out of habit. “But it’s nice to know you agree with me, Blue.”

He wipes his cheeks and stands with a sniffle. He feels seriously gross right now and desperately needs to wash his face. He still doesn’t know what to do, but at least he’s feeling more confident that he’ll figure it out. Whatever he does, it will be enough. No one could ask him for more.

“Thanks, beautiful,” Lance says to Blue on his way out. His grief is a lighter burden and he knows he doesn’t have to bear it alone. He’s got his team. He’s got Blue.

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on a theory that all the lions are capable of giving their paladins realistic hallucinations and share memories in order to communicate, a la Black and Shiro in Season 2 Episode 7. Thanks for reading!


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